What is Stilton Cheese? How is it cooked at home? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. Cheese "Stilton" refers to the English traditional cheeses and has two versions: the illustrious blue and white. The name "Stilton" is protected by law.
The quality of the product is confirmed by the Protected designation of origin (PDO) certificate, which does not allow the so-called cheese made outside the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghampshire and Derbyshire. It is in these areas that this elite gourmet cheese is created. But the village of Stilton, to which he owes his name, is not included in this list, as it is in the vicinity of Cambridgeshire.
Components
Stilton cheese is made from pasteurized cow's milk and has a cylindrical shape. The product is pressed independently, any pressure is excluded.
The blue mold streaks created by the fungal penicillin culture Penicillium roqueforti should radially diverge from the core.
How did it appear?
Now let's find out how Stilton cheese appeared. It is known that the owner of a tavern in the village of Stilton Thornhill Cooper in 1730 bought a patent for the creation of an unusually tasty cheese from one farmer from Leicestershire. Cooper began to buy cheese in carts and sell it in his institution, which was located on a transport highway.
After some time, the cheese became very popular, they even found out about it in the capital of England. Soon his fame thundered throughout Europe. Cheese began to be made not only in the vicinity of Stilton, but also in other regions of England and beyond.
Of course, the technology of creation was often violated, sometimes the cheese was far from the taste of the original recipe. To protect the name, measures were required, and they were taken in 1966.
What to eat with?
Stilton cheese is usually eaten with vegetables, especially broccoli and celery. In English cuisine, it is often used as a component for vegetable casseroles, mashed soups and other dishes. It is also good for sandwiches, and sometimes it is supplemented with port.
The bottle is traditionally turned over and a cheese circle is inserted into the neck. In any shop in London you can find many types of cheese considered by us. They are usually sold in small packages of 100 g each. Such packaging usually costs one or two pounds.
Taste and Aroma
A photo of Stilton cheese is presented in the article. This cheese is a "long-playing" product - it is saved for three months, and its taste remains excellent. So that the aroma and taste are fully revealed, the cheese is taken out of the refrigerator and waiting for some time.
As soon as the product warms up, its taste becomes brighter and richer, and the aroma is simply stunning. Those who like more fresh food can be advised to use Stilton chilled.
How is it made?
This recipe for Stilton cheese is known to few. To make this product, you need morning cream and whole cow's milk, which is produced only at eight dairies in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. First, it is pasteurized. Then it is left to sour until the serum is separated.
Then the cheese mass is thrown back into the fabric bags and wait until the liquid drains. Then cheese circles are pricked with spores of penicillin blue mold and sent for a nine-week maturation. Ready cheese weighs 7 kg and has a crust.
White Stilton is an unripe cheese that has no blue streaks. Its taste is less sharp and sharp, it is softer and often filled with pieces of apricot.
Amateur raw-eaters who had not previously made blue cheese and want to do it, it is best to make the cheese we are considering first. Let's try to create British noble Stilton cheese at home.
Recipe (recommendations)
If you will use milk in large volumes (from 20 l), you will not need a press for this recipe: cheese will be pressed under its own weight. Moreover, the Stilton cheese production technology does not allow the use of mechanical pressing (as we discussed above).
However, we advise you to make a small portion of cheese (for 8 liters of milk) if you are cooking Stilton for the first time.
timetable
Consider the schedule for creating cheese:
1. The first day:
- 3.5 hours for the production of cheese grains;
- 1.5 hours for molding;
- night (13-15 hours) on the first pressing cycle.
2. Second:
- 5 + 5 hours for the second pressing cycle;
- night (12 hours) on the third pressing cycle.
3. The following days:
- three days for the fourth pressing cycle;
- for ripening from 3 to 6 months.
How to cook cheese at home?
So, Stilton hard cheese is prepared as follows:
- In a large saucepan, mix cream and milk, heat slowly in a water bath to 31 ° C, stirring constantly. Dilute calcium chloride in water and add to the pan, mix gently.
- Turn off the hotplate. Pour a mesophilic culture onto the surface of the milk, wait three minutes for it to absorb moisture.
- Stir, trying to distribute the powder over the entire volume of milk. Cover and leave for 45 minutes.
- Now dissolve the enzyme in water, pour it into the pan and mix well. Cover the container and set aside for 90 minutes so that the milk is curled.
- Now you need to test for clean separation. If the clot is not too dense, let it stand for another 15 minutes. If there is a clean compartment, cut the clot into cubes 1.5 cm high and wait another 20 minutes. The clot during this time will sink to the bottom, and the serum will be at the top.
- Cover the colander with a cheese cloth folded in half (with a margin so that the edges can be tied).
- Transfer the clot with a slotted spoon to a colander, leave to drain for one hour.
- Tie the edges of the fabric so that you get a bag with a mass of cheese. Hang it over the sink and let it drain for another half hour (the serum should stop dripping completely).
- Now put a load weighing 2 kg on a bag with cheese mass (do not pay attention to the form now) for evening and night (12-15 hours). The room should have a temperature of 22 ° C. Check that there are no drafts.
- In the morning, remove a clot from the gauze bag from the press, cut into small pieces with a side of 1 cm. The smaller they are, the cheese will turn out more evenly.
- Carefully mix salt, diced cheese mass and mold powder with your hands in clean gloves.
- Line the mold for pressing with a cheese cloth, transfer cheese cubes to it. Straighten all the folds and form a flat surface of the product.
- Place a load of 2 kg on top for 10 hours. Turn the cheese over in shape every 5 hours.
- Turn the product over and leave it pressed overnight.
- Turn the mold over and compress the cheese for another three days with a load of up to 2 kg, changing gauze once a day and turning the cheese every 10 hours.
- It is necessary to ensure that the surface of the product evenly dries on top and bottom.
- After three days of briquetting, your cheese is ready for ripening.
Maturation
Now consider the stages of ripening Stilton cheese:
- Remove the cheese from the mold and pierce it with a clean needle vertically (at the base and top of the cylinder) in different places, starting from the center, in a spiral. There should be a distance of 2 cm between the punctures. This way you will create a space for the development of mold. Punctures should have a depth of 2/3 of the height of the product.
- Send the cheese to the ripening room. Humidity in the chamber is 85-95%, and the temperature is + 8-10 ° .
- Turn the cheese over once a day for the first month, and then a couple of times a week.
- In the early stages of ripening, when the blue mold grows very actively on the surface, once a week you need to remove it with a knife (just slightly scrape the surface of the cheese).
The higher the humidity in the ripening chamber, the faster the mold will grow. You will see the first mold on the surface of the product after a week and a half. Then its amount will increase. It will gradually dry out and form streaks of brownish-green color on the surface of the product.
If the outside of the cheese is sufficiently moist, an orange-pink peel will appear on it, and if dry, a slight layering of white mold will appear. The surface of the "Stilton" under different temperature and humidity conditions will be different. Three months later, you can already eat it. If you stand it for up to six months, you will get a richer and more complex taste of Stilton cheese.